Eliza the cross-country runner

 Eliza is having a great cross country season.  She ran track her sophomore and junior years, but this is her first time doing cross country.  She trained with the team all summer and was thrilled to make varsity.  Over the season, she has dropped 3 minutes off of her 5K time and is hoping to break into the 20's (translation:  to run faster than 21 minutes).

 Not only does Eliza have a cross country t-shirt, but she also has a cross country ladies shirt (above) and a cross country seniors shirt!  It's a really nice, tight-knit group.

 At one meet, I ran the Open Race, with all the JV runners and a few other adults.  How humiliating!  I was definitely near the end of the pack.  I plan to run a half marathon in January, and I"ve been training for distance but obviously not for speed.  Lyrad, on the other hand, recently ran his first half marathon (in less than 2 hours), and his first marathon (in less than 5 hours).  Wow!!  Impressive.  He never planned to run a marathon, but I guess he got bored enough in the desert to take on the challenge.  But he says the long distance racing is a one-time thing (so he doesn't wreck his knees), and he'll just cheer me on at my half marathon (but I'm still trying to talk him into running with me).

The 7 varsity girls